


coffee shop soundtrack

by neenzyjf



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Characters Playing Animal Crossing Game(s), Fluff, KenHina Week 2018, M/M, but it’ll all be done within a week so don’t worry, kinda a slow burn sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 07:51:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14712074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neenzyjf/pseuds/neenzyjf
Summary: Something brought together by animal crossing, laughter, and a matcha frappuccino."Hinata remembered the frappuccino in front of him, the ice melting, and quickly took a sip. He knew that this coffee shop experience was something he needed again, starting with the game, and possibly finishing with the laughter that caused Hinata’s insides to swell."





	1. keyframe

keyframe - n. a moment that seemed innocuous at the time but ended up marking a diversion into a strange new era of your life.

*

Hinata hadn’t been too keen on going the whole way to Tokyo to visit a relative that he hadn’t seen in a while before he had even left, but the long train journey in the sweltering heat had sealed his opinion that this had been a stupid idea. He’d only really agreed to it to appease his mother, not that it mattered now.

As he exited the station, Hinata realised just how out of his depth he really was. He was alone in a big city that he didn’t know his way around, and didn’t have a clue of where he was meant to be going. His heavy bag was weighing on his shoulder, and he wasn’t even sure where to start.

As he wiped his brow for the second time in two minutes, Hinata decided he should start by finding a cold drink and hopefully some free WiFi he could use to load a map to help. Even if he ended up just as clueless as before, he would still have had a nice refreshment and somewhere to dump his bag for a while. With this in mind, Hinata turned around and headed for the nearest Starbucks sign.

Hinata tried to see the positives as he dragged his case over the pavement. He had plenty of opportunities to explore this new city, and every day could lead to a new mini adventure. As a child, he had always enjoyed visiting his grandmother, and he felt a pang at guilt for not having visited her sooner. Living alone in such a large city couldn’t be the most fun, and he was glad that having her grandson over for a week in the summer could brighten her month.

The things he was missing at in Miyagi overshadowed those positives though. He had just finished junior high, and his ever-growing passion for volleyball demanded release. The thought of himself practising spikes alone on a local court at home was painful. But Hinata gritted his teeth and quickened his pace, nearing the coffee shop, and hoping it would provide some respite.

Minutes later, the matcha frappuccino in his hand was calming him before he had even found a seat in the somewhat crowded shop. He spotted a table at the back, began snaking through chairs and legs towards it, and dumped his backpack on the chair. The relief was instantaneous, so he kicked his suitcase under the table, sat on the seat opposite his bag, and took a long sip of his drink. He still didn’t feel great, but he was a million times better than when he had been standing outside the station.

There was a small sound just behind him that hovered above the coffee shop buzz, and Hinata stopped. Resonant chimes coupling perfectly with plucked guitar melodies, pauses adding structure, occasional drum beats punctuating the themes. There was clearly a motif that was repeating, but it was adapting, growing and changing, leaving Hinata trying to follow the path of the notes as they morphed into a wave of harmonious music. The layers were smooth, as if sanded to perfection, and everything melded wonderfully into Hinata’s ears. This music relaxed every muscle from his head to his toes, and he could feel everything get a little bit better: the city a little less big, the streets a little less confusing.

His cup was placed carefully on the table and Hinata closed his eyes. He just needed this moment to last. And just when he thought this situation couldn’t get any better, a new sound cut through the music.

A laugh. A laugh that sounded so natural, and full, like it was perfectly crafted to sound like paradise. Hinata’s eyes shot open, and he had to find the source of this new creation, the cause of this happiness, more than he had ever needed anything before.

He turned around in his chair, and his gaze was captured. A boy, who looked around his own age, was sitting at the table behind him, their backs turned away from each other. Strands of bleached hair fell around the boy’s neck, dark roots grown far down. A cosy-looking grey hoodie was swathed around him, and Hinata wondered if it was as soft as it looked. He had to resist the temptation to reach across and feel it.

Only then did Hinata see the device in his hands. He recognised it immediately – his sister Natsu owned a 3DS, and enjoyed playing several children’s games on it. What he didn’t recognise was the game being played. It was clearly the source of the calm music, as the beat coincided with characters walking in a serene forest, fishing, finding fruit, or just wandering. Hinata stared at the screen, trying to absorb as much information about this game as possible, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy’s face in the reflection.

The boy reached for the drink on the table in front of him, the movement of his red-clad arm drawing Hinata’s attention. The drink was something cool and pink and full of sugar, which made Hinata’s taste buds curl, but it seemed to perfectly match this boy holding a white 3DS, playing the most innocuous game ever.

The plastic cup drained as the boy finished the drink, and the music stopped as he closed the lid on his console. Hinata realised what was happening and quickly turned away as the boy stood up to leave, and hoped that he hadn’t noticed him staring. He heard the boy packing his things into a bag, and the chair scrape as it was pushed back under the table. Hinata tried not to watch as the boy walked away, and failed miserably, for he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

Hinata remembered his frappuccino in front of him, the ice melting, and quickly took a sip. He had to find his way to his grandmother, but he knew that this coffee shop experience was something he needed again, starting with the game, and possibly finishing with the laughter that caused Hinata’s insides to swell.

*

They had taken a rather roundabout route home from school that night, passing through the small town centre on their way. Hinata was tired; practice had been long. He lifted his gaze from the pavement, watching his and Kageyama's feet trudging along, to look into the window of the shop they were passing. A video game store, with posters covering the glass. One of them in particular drew Hinata's attention: it showed cartoon animal characters standing together underneath a tree, smiles wide and colours popping from the paper. It looked vaguely familiar to him, especially the central dog character. Hinata's feet halted as he tried to remember where he had seen this before...

The memory hit him at once: the taste of matcha on his tongue, the blissfully calm music, the pain in his shoulders from the heavy bag, the blonde hair grown to the chin, the sweltering heat of Tokyo, and the laugh that made Hinata's circulation pause.

This was the game that the boy had been playing.

The adrenaline levels within him rose while he tried to make a decision. Should he get the game? Would that be weird? What would Kageyama think? A million questions swirled through Hinata's thoughts as he tried to reach a decision. Suddenly, Hinata knew none of it mattered. There was a feeling in his gut, like the first time he had ever done a quick with Kageyama. Like then he had known to jump, he now knew that he needed to buy this game. He was going to buy the game. A small decision, that Hinata didn't know would have rippling repercussions.

"Hold on, Kageyama, I want to look in this shop for a second!"

Hinata could hear Kageyama grumbling from somewhere behind him as he hefted his weight against the heavy door to the store, his curiosity piqued by what he had seen outside. The characters on the colourful poster looked far too similar to his memory for this to be a coincidence. Nevertheless, he was hoping beyond hope that this was what he thought it was, and he was in luck.

His eyes rapidly scanned the shelves stacked high with video games. A million different titles and genres surrounded him, but he could feel the object of his desires almost calling to him, and he knew it. This is what he had been looking for, for all these weeks.

He heard the door swing open again, Kageyama huffing about something or the other, Hinata couldn’t quite tell what, as he hastily grabbed it from the middle shelf, his grin growing ever larger. He turned and was headed straight for the till when Kageyama plucked it right from his hands. Hinata squawked indignantly, having momentarily forgotten that there was someone with him.

“Hey!”

“Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” Kageyama said, a quizzical note in his voice. “Hinata, what is this for? Why would you ever want a game that doesn’t involve volleyball?”

Hinata tried to contain his sigh. “It’s just something I saw. Move, I need to pay for this and get home, it’s getting dark.” There was an element of truth to this; volleyball practice had been ending later and later recently, as the threat of prefectural competitions loomed over the team that Hinata was so proud to be a part of. Karasuno currently had the beginnings of a revolutionary team, not that they quite knew it yet. The first years especially (including Hinata and Kageyama) were going from strength to strength, mastering new techniques faster than their captain, Daichi, had ever thought possible. Anyways, this wasn’t just Hinata trying to get his towering friend out of the way. Mostly.

“But -”

Kageyama was interrupted by Hinata taking the game back, ducking around him and striding to the till. Curiously, he followed, waited for Hinata to receive his change, and then accompanied him outside, still mildly confused.

“Do you even know what it’s about – wait, I’ve never seen you with something like this, are you sure you’ll even like it?” Hinata could feel the concern, but mostly confusion, in Kageyama's words, but he didn’t have time to ponder. He needed to get this home as quickly as possible. He simply had to.

“Calm down, Kageyama. It’s just a game, but I have a really good feeling about this. Hey, for all you know, there might be a tiny bit of volleyball in it,” Hinata chuckled, “Maybe a mini-game or two.”

*

Hinata could feel his level of excitement overflowing as he raced down the last section of the road to his house, his veins pulsing as he jammed his key in the lock, his anticipation heightening as he scrambled up the stairs. He barely remembered to shout a greeting to his mother on his way past.

His younger sister was more than a little surprised when he burst into her room, but was barely given a moment to think before Hinata was speaking, his words rushed and garbled.

“Natsu where is your 3DS I need to borrow it desperately I just got an awesome new game and I need to play it like now Natsu c’mon where is it,” Hinata rambled, “Natsu! Pretty please?”

Once she had understood what was being asked of her, she had little choice but to oblige, especially after Hinata had spotted the device on the low table in the centre of her room, and had already made a beeline for it.

“Big brother,” Natsu began, “you can borrow it, but you must be extra careful that you don’t break it. Else you’re buying me a new one! Promise?”

Had he had the spare brain space to feign offence, Hinata would have, but he was far too busy marvelling at the console in his hands. He was already backing out of her room as he responded.

“Of course, Natsu.”

Hinata was powering on the device as he rushed towards his room, staring down at his hands intently. His bag landed on the floor with a thud as he dug the new game out from its packaging, eager with anticipation. The cartridge made a soft click as it slotted into the space at the back of the 3DS, and a small animation of a rather feminine-looking cartoon dog wearing clothes appeared on the screen, running in a circle on a small floating patch of grass.

He recognised the character instantly from the coffee shop, a smile flooding his face as he eagerly pressed the A button, and waited for the game to load. Time seemed to drag on forever as the small loading icon looped on and on, but then he heard it.

Soft, tinkling music poured out of the speakers as the start screen appeared, not that Hinata had noticed. His eyes were screwed shut as he let the sounds wash over him, while he calmly remembered the first time he had heard this music.

 


	2. opia

opia - n. the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.

*

The coach journey to Nekoma was endlessly long and Hinata was restless, his legs bouncing. He couldn't tell if he was excited because he was going to be playing volleyball against a new team, or if it was the fact that they were headed into Tokyo and there was an infinitely slim possibility that he would see the boy from the coffee shop. He vaguely wondered how Daichi would react if Hinata asked if they could take a detour to a certain Starbucks before going to the high school, but he assumed it wouldn't go down well.

Hinata looked at his legs again. They were still jittering, his knees flying in tandem. A thought ofirony crossed his mind as he withdrew from his bag the only thing that seemed to calm him anymore: Natsu's pink 3DS with Animal Crossing in it. He felt his breathing even as he popped his headphones in and heard the melodies flow, felt his knees slow their attempt to break free of his body when his save file loaded. He'd gotten remarkably far in the game in a few short weeks: his house now had a second level, and the museum was brimming with fish and bugs. Hinata presumed the reason he found the game so relaxing was because the forced slow pace was so dissimilar to his regular life, in which everything was go go go.

The line of flowers around his in-game house were being meticulously watered when the coach sputtered to a stop. Hinata was almost disappointed about the fact that he would have to stop playing, until he finally diverted his attention away from the game and looked out the window, where he saw they were in a small parking lot, with buildings around them. School buildings. They had arrived at Nekoma, he realised excitedly.

Daichi was talking to them as they filed off of the coach, but Hinata wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. He was probably just reminding Tanaka and Noya to behave themselves around these new opponents, which didn’t apply to Hinata too much, so it didn’t matter immensely if Hinata wasn’t listening. He just wanted to play volleyball.

He was busy marvelling at the magnitude of the school they were in when Kageyama stopped him, as he was about to walk into someone. Someone who was decidedly not wearing the black and orange Karasuno uniform.

“Well well,” the person said, “Karasuno! It’s a pleasure to have you here.” The first thing Hinata noticed was that this person was inexplicably tall; Hinata had to crane his neck to look at him properly. He absentmindedly wondered if this person was a middle blocker. The second thing Hinata noticed was the mop of messy black hair that sat atop his head. It almost looked as

though it had had an electric current run through it.

Hinata had no more time to ponder before the person spoke again, his eyes glinting. “Kuroo Tetsurou. I’m Nekoma’s captain.”

Daichi stuck his hand out and introduced himself to Kuroo, while Hinata hoped that the whole team wasn’t this tall. Despite his and Kageyama’s unnatural quick, they wouldn’t stand a very good chance against multiple tall blockers.

Kuroo lead them through the car park, past some sports fields, and into a gymnasium. The towering ceilings shouldn’t have surprised Hinata, as this was a volleyball court, but for some reason they still did, and he couldn’t help but say so. There were players (of all heights, thankfully) practising on the court, and volleyballs flew as people practised serves and spikes. Their red and black uniform gave Hinata a strange feeling, like he’d seen it somewhere before. It was probably just his imagination.

Once Kuroo had gone to prepare his team, Daichi assembled Karasuno into a circle.

“Alright guys, they’re good. They’re very good. We can tell by the spikes and serves we’ve just seen that those are going to be hard to receive, so Hinata, you stay out of the way of those. Noya, be ready to dive. Their libero also looks very good, so we can’t just rely on our spikes hitting the ground on their side. We’re going to have to come up with a strategy...”

All of this was going into one of Hinata’s ears and then out of the other. He couldn’t focus on anything except who he could see sitting on the floor on the other side of the gym.

He was sitting against the wall with his knees bent in front of him, holding something white in his hands. His back curved forward as he hunched over the white thing, giving it his full attention while ignoring Kuroo, who was trying to corral his team together. The brown and blonde strands of hair fell forwards across his face as he frowned at the item in his hands, when Hinata saw the muscles in his face relax and a small smile replace the frown. His red and black Nekoma uniform was partially covered by a grey hoodie pulled around him, and Hinata wondered if it was as soft as it looked.

And that was when Hinata realised. The coffee shop boy, whom Hinata had so often thought of, pondered if he’d ever be able to see him, heard his laugh echo through the chamber of his skull. The coffee shop boy was here and real and Hinata didn’t know what to do with himself. He felt his jaw slacken as he tried to contain his shock, but try as he might he couldn’t get his mouth to close.

The boy’s posture shifted, the object, which Hinata assumed was his white 3Ds, was placed beside him, he put a hand down to push himself up off of the floor. He lifted his hair out of his eyes, away from his face, and looked up.

And locked eyes with Hinata.

One of his eyebrows quirked, confusion apparent in his eyes. He must be perplexed by this orange haired boy staring at him, Hinata presumed, and wondered if the coffee shop boy recognised him. Probably not, he knew. Hinata wanted to let his eyes roam over the boy, drink in every detail of his face, which he hadn’t seen properly yet. He wanted to look examine all of the coffee shop boy, every rise and fall of his body, but he knew he couldn’t break this connection. Not yet, at least.

The boy looked ethereal standing there, staring at Hinata, and Hinata realised that he had to stop staring, he had to act like nothing had happened. Yet he still did not break the contact - he didn’t want to sever this accidental bond he had created from across the room, he wanted to hold onto it tightly with both hands, because he had a feeling that said that this was something he needed. Someone he needed.

“Hinata! Are you even listening?”

His gaze snapped away from the boy,towards Daichi, and he felt a pang of pain that he was no longer looking at the coffee shop boy. He had been trying so hard to maintain the connection between them, terrified to even blink, and now Daichi had ruined it. He knew he couldn’t begrudge his captain this though: he was none the wiser.

Kageyama nudged him rather forcefully, as Kageyama often would do, and Hinata could hear Tsukishima muttering something and snickering to his left. Hinata tried not to let this rile him; he had to be ready for the game. Especially since Daichi had been telling him about strategy earlier, something about calm receives, what it was, Hinata couldn’t remember. It would be fine. Probably.

“We were just saying that you mustn’t let your serves fall. We can’t afford to hand away easy points like that when we’re up against a team this good. We’re a new team, and we’re all getting used to each other, but this is truly going to be a test of our communication. But that’s what this is for: a practice match, to strengthen our team...”

Hinata was trying his best to pay attention to Daichi’s motivational speech, but he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander to the boy. Out of nowhere, Hinata wondered what position he played;hopefully they would be opposite each other on the front line at some point. He wasn’t particularly large, so probably wasn’t a middle blocker, as they had plenty of tall people like Kuroo for that. He wasn’t wearing a libero uniform: the white and red shirt of player 3. Maybe he was just one of those general players, Hinata thought, who bulk out the team and help with receives. Unless--

“We can do this! Karasuno, fight!” The shouts of his teammates recaptured Hinata’s attention, and he felt a tinge of guilt for completely ignoring Daichi for the second time in half an hour. He didn’t have much time though, for the rest of his team was getting in position and Hinata was still standing on the sideline. He ran to his place, and saw that the boy was standing at the back, about to serve. But this wasn’t the time to get distracted. They had a game to play.

*

When the coffee shop boy had hit the ball over the net from the floor, Hinata’s heart dropped, but his feet knew to run. He could feel Nishinoya next to him, both desperate to stop the hard slap of the ball against the unforgiving floor, but he could tell they were too late.

The ball landed on Karasuno’s side of the court. The shriek of the whistle pierced the air as Hinata released a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. Just like that, it was over. Nekoma had won.

Hinata has been played, just like the volleyball that was bouncing across the court. Once Inuoka had blocked his spike at the end of the first set, and he could tell they had pinned down his singular strategy, he’d felt in the pit of his stomach that they were done for. Even once he and Kageyama had switched toss styles, he hadn’t been able to adapt quick enough. He could do it. He just needed more time.

“One more!”

*

After three games, they still hadn’t won. Hinata wanted to keep going, but Ukai had said no.

Kageyama had managed to scare the coffee shop boy away with his staring, and Hinata knew he had to go for something slightly less intense. He just wasn’t sure what yet.

Once they had cleared up the gym, it was time to get ready to go. The pressure of time was weighing on Hinata, he needed a plan, an idea, anything. He just needed to talk to the boy. Hinata realises he still didn’t even know his name, so had no way to call out to him. He decided to somewhat awkwardly go up to him and try his best.

“You seem pretty unbothered by volleyball,” Hinata started, and then realised he didn’t know what to say next.

Thankfully, the boy looked up at him in response. “Oh. Yeah,” he said, eyes pointed to the floor. Hinata felt his breath catch - this wasn’t going well.

“How did it feel to win today?” He didn't even know what he was saying. He just had to save this while he still could.

“Sort of...normal.”

Hinata didn’t have a remote clue of why the boy would feel normal after winning a match. “The next time, we'll make you desperate. We'll win, and we'll make you say "I'm mad," or "That was fun," instead of just, "Sort of."” Oh god, Hinata had really screwed this up now. He'd gone on a complete ramble and for all he knew, the boy would be offended. This could all go horribly--

"Okay." Hinata's head snapped back up in disbelief, but the boy was continuing, his soft voice gaining some volume. "I look forward to it."

He could barely believe his ears. This was basically the first time he'd ever heard this boy express an opinion, let alone a positive one. There was a small silence as Hinata tried to process this. The boy was looking forward to seeing him again. Hinata could feel his hopes rising.

“Kenma. Kozume Kenma.” A name! The coffee shop boy had a name! It seemed to fit him so well, soft sounding and short. Kenma. Hinata could tell it suited him perfectly. It was such a lovely name, Hinata wanted to feel it roll off his tongue over and over. Kenma. Kenma.

He was cycling through that thought when he realised he had to respond. He really wasn’t paying attention to anything today, but it wasn’t intentional. He just had other things on his mind.

“I’m Hinata Shouyou.” He had no clue what else to say, but he didn’t want their stilted conversation to end yet. He didn’t want it to ever end.

The game, the cause of all of this, popped into his head then. “Hey, I saw you playing on a 3DS earlier. Do you play Animal Crossing?”

Kenma raised a dark eyebrow. “I didn’t have you down as the type to play Animal Crossing. You seem like you’d get bored of the forced slow pace.”

“No, it’s the exact opposite! I find it so calming to have something slow compared to hectic life, it relaxes me more than anything else I’ve ever tried!” Hinata could feel his voice getting louder, more excited, juxtaposing his words of tranquility. He couldn’t tell if the enthusiasm in his voice was from talking about Animal Crossing or just talking to Kenma.

“Really? I find it relaxing too!” Kenma’s voice picked up a bit, his passion showing through his slight smile, eyes crinkling. “I mean, but for a different reason..” And just like that, it was gone. The lines around his eyes softened, his mouth curving the other way. Hinata’s insides lit up with a fierce urge to make Kenma smile, to try fix whatever had stalled Kenma’s happiness just then. He hoped it wasn’t something he’d said.

Hinata was struck with an idea. It could go one of two ways, but if he spent too long trying to decide on whether to ask or not, he’d never know the outcome. He had to just trust his instincts and go for it.

“Hey, do you want to play Animal Crossing together some time?” Hinata sputtered, trying to get the words out before he could change his mind.

He knew he’d made the right choice as soon as Kenma’s eyes lit up. “Together? But we live so far apart — oh, of course! Online multiplayer!”

“Yeah!” Hinata continued, his confidence increasing after seeing Kenma’s enthusiasm. “Only if you want to, of course.”

Kenma was almost beaming. “Of course I want to! Kuroo doesn’t really like to play video games and I don’t have many other close friends, so I never get to play with people. Hey, do you want my phone number so we’ll be able to organise times?”

“Sure! My 3DS is on the coach, Daichi made me leave it behind, so I can’t give you my friend code right now anyway, but I’ll text you. Wait, what’s my phone number? Kageyama, come here, I need to know my phone number!”

And just like that, Hinata had acquired a friend. Kenma promised to text him once he got home, and Hinata was unrealistically excited. He spent the whole coach journey back to Karasuno with a smile on his face as he stared out of the window, looking forward to times to come. 

 


	3. distance

distance - n. the length of the space between two points.

 

Hinata flopped down onto his bed, feeling exhaustion creeping through his limbs. The long hours spent on the coach after such intense exercise had left his legs cramped and his shoulders tense. But the pain didn’t last long before he remembered earlier events. 

 

He’d never been the calm type, but the coach journey home had left him abruptly tranquil, just thinking over the coffee shop boy – Kenma, he chided himself, the boy had a name. Hinata knew that he was the type of person to never be satisfied, as further evidenced by his eagerness to see Kenma again.

 

However, this only brought on the sinking realisation that he wasn’t going to see Kenma in the flesh for a long time; Tokyo was far away. He only wished that he had appreciated his time in Tokyo while it lasted.

 

Sighing, Hinata took out the 3DS and pressed the power button. He wanted to quench this saddened feeling before it got out of hand, and his automatic way of dealing with anything recently had just been to load up Animal Crossing.

 

He paused before selecting the game from the menu, remembering Kenma’s promise to text him. Hinata rifled through his bag searching for his phone, unable to believe that he had forgotten such a crucial thing. He found it wedged inside one of his English books, the little light in the corner blinking.

 

He had a message! From an unsaved number no less, so almost definitely from Kenma.

 

>>>hey its kenma:)

>>>fyi my friend code on the ds is 4982-6845-0273

>>>and also pls reply at some point so i know that you got this else i’ll be scared i just messaged some random stranger:(

 

Hinata let out a small laugh at Kenma’s messages, before typing his response.

 

<<<sure ill add you right now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

He frowned for a second, before back-spacing some of the exclamation marks. He didn’t want to scare Kenma away before they’d even gotten to know each other.

 

Hinata paused before sending another message. He had been about to ask Kenma if he wanted to play Animal Crossing together, but he didn’t want to bug him too much from the get go. He knew he could be a bit overbearing sometimes, but desperately didn’t want that to get in the way of this budding friendship he’d found.

 

After a few seconds of deliberation, Hinata put his phone down. He could always send another message later, but once something had been sent, he couldn’t reel it back in.

 

He turned his attention back to the 3DS, side-lining Animal Crossing in favour of opening up the friends menu. He typed the code in carefully, and tapped okay. He held his breath for a second as a small character with chin length blond hair appeared on his screen. That must be Kenma’s Mii, he realised.

 

The character was holding a 3DS, much like the real Kenma when Hinata had first seen him. The little bubble above Mii-Kenma’s head informed Hinata that real-Kenma was currently playing Animal Crossing. It almost felt like an unspoken invitation to go and join him.

 

Hinata leaned over to the bedside table and grabbed his phone, unlocking it quickly.

 

<<<hey

<<<wanna play some animal crossing?

 

His eyes closed as he awaited a response, desperately hoping he hadn’t just screwed things up. He was beginning to lose hope before he heard the tell-tale ping of his phone.

 

>>>i thought youd never ask

 

<<<im coming overrrrrrrr

 

Hinata was clutching his 3DS as he willed Animal Crossing to load faster. He wanted to play with Kenma as soon as possible.

 

Once the title screen opened, Hinata was jabbing buttons in an effort to get to the train station, cycling through the conversation with the porter, and then selecting a friend from far away. He continued to tap the screen, as though that would make Kenma’s town appear sooner, when a headshot of a character appeared on the list. A pink haired head with sleepy eyes, and the name ‘kenma’ beside it.

 

The pink hair wasn’t even questioned before Hinata was stabbing the screen with his finger, the stylus dropped somewhere on the floor, forgotten. He could feel his shoulders climbing as the train arrived at the platform, and mini-Hinata stepped inside.

 

To distract himself from the loading screen, Hinata retrieved his phone yet again and tapped out another message.

 

<<<on my way!!!!!!!!

 

>>>(/^▽^)/

 

Hinata was smiling wildly at his phone, when a little jingle from the 3DS alerted him to the fact that he had arrived in Kenma’s town, or ‘Little Tokyo’, as the banner declared it.

 

<<<im here!!!!!!!!!!

 

>>>i know!!!!!!!!

 

Hinata could feel his eyebrows quirk as he moved through the town.

 

<<<how do u have so many fruits kenma??? ive only got peaches

 

>>>you can get them by visiting other people and taking some of theirs – everyone starts with a different fruit and if you want them all you need to visit lots of people

 

<<<oh

 

>>>or… you could just take some of each of mine yknow

 

<<<kenmaaa!!!

 

He was only just beginning to realise that this game became so much more when played with another person, but that wasn’t on the forefront of his mind. He was so enamoured with this boy and he didn’t even know it yet.

 

*

 

The first years were slowly trudging through Karasuno’s gates after practice when Tsukishima spoke.

 

“You know, Hinata, your grades are really slipping at the moment.”

 

It didn’t take long for Kageyama to interject, “You know, Tsukishima, his grades can’t slip if they were already at the bottom in the first place.”

 

“Hey!” Hinata was trying not to shout, but the comments stung. He knew his grades were low, but he was trying to improve. It just wasn’t a priority over other things in his life, namely volleyball, and playing Animal Crossing.

 

Yamaguchi, ever the peacekeeper, spoke up. “Kageyama, your grades aren’t particularly high either. Hey, maybe we should hold a study session together! We could start tonight.”

 

Hinata could hear Tsukishima groaning about having to be a teacher, and Kageyama was clearly considering it. But that night wasn’t a good night for Hinata. Nor was any night, in fact.

 

“Can’t, sorry,” Hinata said, whilst trying to quicken the groups pace. He wanted to get home.

 

“How come? Oh, do you have another one of your little online dates with Nekoma’s setter?” Tsukishima sniggered.

 

Hinata didn’t want to get defensive, but Tsukishima was really trying him. “They’re not dates! And he has a name.”

 

“Tsk,” tutted Tsukishima.

 

“Say hi to Kenma for us!” called Yamaguchi.

 

Kageyama was silent as Hinata began running in the direction of home.

 

He had his phone out, fingers furiously tapping at the screen.

 

<<<sorry im so late!!!! daichi made us stay late to practice serves and then tsukisumi was being suckyshima but im running home ill be there soon!!!!!!!

 

His feet hadn’t been pounding for long before he arrived at his door, hastily shouting a greeting as he scrambled up the stairs and powered on his 3DS.

 

>>>hinata its fine !! i haven’t been waiting long anyways – i had an english paper to do

 

<<<ah sorry you can do your english paper if you want

 

>>>no silly i finished it so id have time for you now

 

That statement made Hinata’s insides feel fuzzy as Animal Crossing started up. His character, sporting the same shock of orange hair as its creator, left his house, and was being shouted at for not saving as Hinata typed out a new message.

 

<<<my town or yours?

<<<i mean i know that’s a silly question because your town is waayyyyy better but I thought we could do something in mine for a change

 

>>>of course shouyou I was going to suggest that soon too. I want to see how your new fruit trees are laid out（＾ｖ＾）

 

<<<the trees aren’t even that new they’ve been there for weeks

 

>>>still!!

 

The game stops as it announces mini-Kenma’s arrival, and Hinata felt his excitement brimming. He should be used to seeing mini-Kenma by now, as they’d been playing together most nights for just over a month. But mini-Kenma was as close as he could get to the real Kenma, and he wanted to appreciate it as much as possible.

 

>>>you named your town shouyou land?

 

Hinata’s smile grew at Kenma’s disbelief.

 

<<<its a cool name okay

 

>>>its so you

 

The smile grew even further. He was going to have to do something about this before the smile became wider than his actual face.

 

They continued playing for a while, texting back and forth as they did so.

 

Hinata was about to propose visiting the island to play some of the minigames when another text from Kenma came through.

 

>>>its kinda inconvenient to keep putting the ds down to text

 

The smile that had been stuck to his face had dissipated in a matter of seconds. What did this mean? Did this mean that Kenma wanted them to play in silence? Or did he want to stop playing altogether? Hinata prayed that wouldn’t be the case, these evenings spent with Kenma from a million miles away were the highlight of his days. He didn’t know how he would cope if that were suddenly ripped away from him, as it seemed to be now.

 

The panic he was in nearly clouded his vision, but the shrill sound of his phone pierced through it. It wasn’t the regular ping sound, it was far more insistent, which could only mean—

 

>Kenma is calling…<

 

Hinata jutted forward, grabbing his phone from the bedspread, and nearly pressing reject in his hurry to answer.

 

“Kenma!”

 

“I hope you don’t mind me calling, Hinata.”

 

“You made me so nervous that you didn’t want to talk or play anymore!!” Hinata sputtered, whilst putting the phone on speaker and setting it next to him.

 

“Ah, I’m sorry. I just wanted an excuse to call you I think.”

 

His insides felt as though they were knotting up at that statement. “It’s fine – I was just super worried that I had done something wrong. I didn’t want to lose a friend.”

 

“I wouldn’t want to lose you, Shouyou.”

 

At that comment, Hinata’s innards may as well have been his headphone cord after an hour spent in his pocket. He couldn’t fathom why he felt that way.

 

“Hey, you planted your trees in a circle around Re-Tail. And you’ve got pears too!”

 

Though his words were insignificant, Hinata couldn’t help but marvel at Kenma saying them. It had felt like so long since he had heard Kenma talk at all.

 

Once Hinata started down that line of thought, he couldn’t stop. This was the first time he had even heard Kenma’s voice since the practice match, over a month ago. Everything was all so new, and Hinata could just tell that he had been missing Kenma’s voice, without even knowing it.

 

His silence hadn’t seemed unnatural until Kenma spoke up.

 

“Hinata..?” he whispered, reverting back to formal names.

 

“It’s nothing, Kenma, I just. I just realised how much I’ve missed your voice.”

 

He couldn’t help but wish there wasn’t static and crackling distorting Kenma’s voice. “Ah, Hinata.

I’ve missed yours too. You sound like sunflowers.”

 

“How can a voice sound like sunflowers?”

 

“I don’t know. It just does. You’re loud and bright and people can’t miss you. That, and your voice makes up for your height.”

 

“Hey! You’re barely even taller than me!”

 

They continued like this for what felt like hours, sometimes playing the game open in front of both of them, but mostly just sitting there chatting. The overwhelming sense of familiarity struck Hinata as odd, seeing as the two hadn’t known each other for very long, but he knew there was some sort of genuine connection between them, held together by the internet and their phones and a very relaxing video game.

 

*

 

Hinata was lying on his stomach, his phone pressed to his face.

 

“And then— it was like “whoosh”, all floaty, and it just sailed across the court like it was in slow motion, and it went “thwup” on the floor, and we all looked at Yamaguchi like “whaaaa?”, and it was so cool!!”

 

“Sounds like a jump float serve. Those are hard, you should be proud of him!”

 

“I am! Maybe he’ll be able to teach me how to do one...”

 

“I think you should get the hang of regular serves first, don’t you?” There was no malice behind Kenma’s words, and they were followed by a soft laugh.

 

Hinata stopped moving his character for a second.

 

He hadn’t heard that laugh in so long. That summer in Tokyo seemed like an eternity ago, even if it had only been a few months. The first and only time Hinata had ever heard him laugh had been in that Starbucks, and they hadn’t even known each other. His face had been turned away.

 

Hinata shakily realised he had never seen Kenma laugh. Logic dictates that such a mesmerising sound had to have a beautiful visual counterpart, and Hinata knew he needed to see it. He just knew.

 

His thoughts were leaving his mouth faster than his brain could keep up, but somehow he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

 

“I wish I could see you when you laugh.”

 

“What?” Kenma sounded surprised at this abrupt change of topic, and Hinata didn’t blame him. He would have been too.

 

“I’ve never seen you laugh, but I want to. I want to know how your eyes crinkle, how they light up, how wide your smile becomes.” The words were pouring out of him, but he knew he needed to stop. “I just. I want to see you. All of you — whenever, anytime, instead of being confined to whenever the next practice match will be. ”

 

The finality of his words was met with distorted silence. Panic spread over Hinata’s features as he realised he might have just ruined his favourite friendship by being too forward. He couldn’t afford to lose Kenma, he couldn’t fathom how to go back to life before he had first seen him in the coffee shop. It hadn’t been long since then, but it was like his life had now been split into two parts: pre-Kenma and post-Kenma.

 

The post-Kenma era of his life had been a million times more happy and fulfilling than the pre-Kenma years, despite having lasted for such a shorter period of time. His post-post-Kenma life would still have happy things like volleyball and his teammates at Karasuno, but it wouldn’t contain the voice of the coffee shop boy filling his days.

 

A sound emitting from his phone snapped Hinata out of his thoughts and back to reality.

 

“Distance really sucks, doesn’t it?” Kenma murmured.

 

Suddenly hope was flooding back through Hinata’s veins as it settled in: he hadn’t scared Kenma away. If anything, Kenma felt the same way about the miles between them. Kenma wasn’t done talking though.

 

“I — you could, um, maybe come to Tokyo?”

 

It was now Hinata’s turn to be surprised. “Wait, what?!”

 

“I mean, it would be a long train journey, I’m certain you’d get bored, and oh God it would probably be really expensive but we can maybe split it, it would be worth it, it would so, definitely be worth it,” Kenma was rambling, his nerves pulsing through his phrases. “Or maybe I could come to Miyagi, I don’t really mind, but I really want to see you, Shouyou. Shouyou?”

 

Hinata realised he needed to respond and started saying the words at the forefront of his brian, as if there was no filter there to catch them.

 

“I’d want that, Kenma. I’d want that so so much.”

 

“I’m going to start planning then,” Kenma said, sounding much more confident. “Firstly, would you come to Tokyo or would I go to Miyagi?”

 

“I can come to Tokyo - I mean, it’s gotta be way more interesting than Miyagi. There’s nothing here except mountains. Although, the last time I was in Tokyo I got super lost so you’ll have to help me and make sure I don’t end up wandering the streets for days.”

 

Mentioning the Starbucks seemed like a bad idea, so Hinata pushed that thought down, far away from his mouth which could otherwise release it without warning.

 

Kenma spoke again after the clicking sound of a computer keyboard. “I’m on the website now. The train is going to be expensive, but I’m sure I’ll be able to afford it.”

 

“Wait, Kenma, you can’t pay for the train! You’re not even the one going on it! It would be so rude and unfair of me to expect you to -“

 

“Too late!” Kenma replied. “I just bought a ticket. A return ticket, so you won’t be stranded in Tokyo. I put your email address in so it should send you the confirmation soon.”

 

Surely enough, Hinata’s phone gave off a small ping to signify a new email had arrived. “Kenma, you can’t pay for my ticket! Kenmaaa!”

 

“I want to see you, Shouyou. I really do.”

 

Hinata was quiet now. “I want to see you too.” He released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, before a question popped into his head.

 

“Wait, when did you book the train ticket for?” Hinata asked cautiously. He hoped it wasn’t too far away - patience wasn’t one of his strong suits, and having Kenma so close yet so far would drive him crazy after a while.

 

Kenma responded calmly. “A week and a half from now.”

 

“Wait, what?!”

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fic let alone chaptered fic so please be nice
> 
> it's for kenhina week 2018, check it out on tumblr to find other wonderful kenhina things
> 
> the fic title is from an all time low song even though this has nothing to do with all time low just because the title happened to fit
> 
> each chapter title is the theme i've chosen from the kenhina week prompts
> 
> i didn't really know what to do for the summary sorry
> 
> i'm on tumblr at neenzyjf if you wanna say hi
> 
> thanks so much for reading :)


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